House OKs bill on Chinese New Year holiday

MANILA, Philippines - The House of Representatives has approved on second reading a bill declaring Chinese New Year as a special non-working holiday.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, one of the authors of Bill 1072, said the measure seeks to “promote, honor and respect Chinese traditions, considering the country’s long relations with the Chinese, many of whom have adopted the Philippines as their own land.”

He said declaring Chinese New Year a holiday would give Filipinos and Filipino-Chinese time to celebrate and preserve such traditions and to strengthen their ties.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, another author, said aside from economic benefits, cultural enrichment has likewise been derived from the Filipino people’s long association and assimilation with the Chinese.

“By setting aside the day when Chinese New Year falls to commemorate the occasion which both Chinese and most Filipinos celebrate, we would be enhancing the mutually beneficial relations between us and furthering the amity forged between our two countries,” he said.

He said declaring Chinese New Year as a public holiday would also mean recognizing the Filipino-Chinese’s contributions to the country’s social, cultural and economic development.

Other authors of the bill include Marlyn Primicias-Agabas of Pangasinan, Rodriguez’s brother Maximo of the party-list group Abante Mindanao and Emil Ong of Northern Samar.

The House also passed a bill exempting from estate taxes the unpaid balance of compensation due owners or heirs of agricultural lands acquired by the government under the original land reform law, the Marcos-era Presidential Decree 27.

The measure would amend Section 87 of the National Internal Revenue Code.

It would spare from estate taxes landowners whose properties were covered by agrarian reform three decades ago but who have not been fully paid by the government.

Most of these landowners are believed to have died and it would be their heirs who would enjoy the proposed tax exemption.